The sun goes down in the west – a dark day for Australian rugby

The longest 72 hours in the history of Australian rugby has ended with the ARU finally announcing that it will “discontinue” the Force as the Super Rugby competition reverts to 15 teams from 2018.

If this was to mark the end of one of the sorriest chapters in Australian rugby that would be bad enough, but the likelihood for Australian rugby fans is that there is still a way to go before things bottom out completely. For one, the prospect of Wallabies stepping out next Saturday into a half-full ANZ Stadium to be spanked yet again by the All Blacks is hardly going to lighten the mood.

Force fans – and many others from all around the country – took to all forms of social media yesterday to register their disgust at the decision. We saw anger that is palpable and understandable.

Rugby in Western Australia continues to make strong progress, and it is inconceivable that this decision by the ARU to cut that off at the knees, can be made with any expectation that parents, club members and casual supporters of the game will not reconsider their emotional and financial commitment to the game.

History shows that, in similar circumstances, once the fog clears and the bitterness eventually subsides, most fans find a way to reconcile with their sport – if not with the organisation or individuals who they feel have wronged them. But that day feels like a long, long way away right now.

Bill Pulver announcing that he is going to step down as CEO of the ARU may help placate some angry fans, although that doesn’t make the outcome any easier to stomach. Pulver was likely close to the end of his tenure anyway and, once he has stayed around long enough to cop the brunt of the flak, this does seem like an opportune time to allow somebody new to start the rebuilding process – assuming that there is a suitably qualified sports administrator anywhere in the world willing to take on the poisoned chalice that is Australian rugby.

One thing Pulver said at yesterday’s press conference – “simply this is the right decision for Super Rugby” – reinforces that what is at the heart of the decision, is what is being missed in the emotion of the reaction.

Australian rugby and Super Rugby are two entirely different things. Yet they have become intertwined to the extent that a decision made to benefit a competition that comprises five competing nations, has earth-shattering consequences to the domestic fabric of one of those nations, Australia.

In short, this announcement, and the reverberations around it, can be seen as ‘payday’ for Australian rugby failing to develop its own domestic professional competition.

While it is Pulver and ARU Chairman Cameron Clyne who now cop all of the blame, a good deal of it might be better shared with John O’Neill and the administration that shut down the ARC after only one season in 2007 – ironically in times when Australian rugby still had a little bit of money in the bank.

A national domestic competition was needed back then as it is today but, as ever in Australian rugby, parochial state interest proved too big a hurdle to overcome. That the same argument is still run today, by self-interested Sydney and Brisbane clubs, that they, and not a truly national state or franchise competition, are the rightful ‘second tier’, speaks volumes for the deep rooted animosity that exists within the code. It shows the willingness for participants to point fingers at each other instead of coming together for the common good.

This is not just rugby’s problem by the way. This year we have seen the Australian Olympic movement, cricket, rugby league, AFL, netball and football all wage vicious civil war over matters of governance and/or salaries. It is the Australian way to bicker and challenge city hall, and rugby is not exempt.

(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

In the absence of a developed, domestic professional competition, Australian rugby lacks the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances and engineer outcomes that don’t carry such high, ‘winner takes all’ stakes. Note how in the English Premiership, Bristol were relegated at the end of this season – at face value a disaster for their club – but in fact they are already planning for their return in 2018-19, and this week announced the signing of Charles Piutau for a reported £1m per season, making him the highest paid player in world rugby.

For the Force however there is no such luxury. It is all or nothing. Which is why fans, and lovers of the game around Australia, are today hurting so badly.

Also a misconception is the framing of this situation as a Force versus Rebels stand-off. In reality, it was never thus. Once the ARU determined that a side had to be cut, and that it was to be the Force, the Rebels were only ever window dressing and a bit of insurance if it turned out later that the Force couldn’t be shifted.

There are of course valid arguments as to why the Rebels should have been chosen instead, just as it is easy for many of those protesting today to forget their views about Force rugby during Michael Foley’s tenure as coach.

(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Emboldened by the support of Andrew Forrest, there are also many who will wake today believing that the Force still won’t be moved, and indications are that an injunction to prevent the ARU from taking this action will be sought. Any such court action however, will have a very limited shelf-life. Who can blame players seeking certainty over where they will play their rugby next year, and once one or two start to confirm signings elsewhere, whatever happens in a court over the following months won’t really matter.

Ever since the ARU went public with the plan to revert to four Super rugby teams, the main reason touted has been “financial considerations.” These considerations are two-pronged –
firstly the cost to the ARU of maintaining five unsuccessful franchises, and secondly, the potential cost to Australian rugby and SANZAAR of not acceding to their broadcast partner’s wishes.

The harsh reality of professional sport is that, in order to fund the operation of game and pay the players, money has to be generated from somewhere. In the case of rugby, the predominant revenue source is broadcast rights. Unfortunately, Australian rugby has no capacity on its own to generate anything like the revenue required to sustain the game – at amateur or professional level.

Thus Australia’s fortunes are inextricably intertwined with SANZAAR’s. And if the broadcasters who are funding SANZAAR – read keeping the game afloat in the southern hemisphere – demand action, then it is action they must get, no matter how unpalatable to local fans.

To that extent, the seeds in yesterday’s announcement were sewn long ago in the boardrooms of cashed up clubs in France and England, and in the broadcast deals struck for the Top 14 and English Premiership, which have translated into enormous financial pressure being placed on the ARU.

Those whose initial reaction is to demand replacement of the ‘incompetents’ on the ARU executive and board, might ask themselves, ‘with who exactly’? Administrators from the other sports listed above, who are labeled similarly, by fans and players within those sports?

Or by new rugby people who will have to make tough decisions faced with the same external circumstances and the same meagre financial resources?

While the ARU can be excused for being subject to global economic realities that are out of its control, they can be fairly blamed for two massive blunders, one of which has made this situation far worse than what it should have been, and the other which represents a huge opportunity lost for the wellbeing of the game in the future.

The ARU knew that this day was coming a long time ago, certainly at some time during 2016. It should have ripped the band-aid off during the off-season and done so secure in the knowledge that they were on solid legal footing. The damage done to this year’s Super Rugby competition and to the goodwill of the game has been far greater than it needed to be as a result of this failing.

In a time when money for the game is so scarce it is also unfathomable how they have made an enemy of Australia’s wealthiest man. It is true that Andrew Forrest entered the debate late in the day, but his support and liking for rugby – and his willingness to be a benefactor for causes he sees as just – has been no secret.

Another administration might well have found a way to have had Forrest at a table long before now, and had him on-side, working together to advance rugby’s cause in Australia.

Needless to say, that opportunity is now lost.

Indeed there is so much that has been lost, and will be lost in the future, as a result of this debacle. Good men have lost their jobs, players will now have played their last professional rugby, and fans have lost their team.

Rugby will survive all of this because ultimately, the game is always bigger than us all. But it is entirely understandable if, for now at least, rugby folk who support the Force feel like the sun has gone down on the west for good.

Geoff Parkes

Geoff is a Melbourne-based sports fanatic and writer who started contributing to The Roar in 2012 under the pen name Allanthus. His first book, A World in Union Conflict; The Global Battle For Rugby Supremacy, was released in December 2017 to critical acclaim. For details on the book visit www.geoffparkes.com. Meanwhile, his twin goals of achieving a single figure golf handicap and owning a fast racehorse remain tantalisingly out of reach.

I’ll still be having a run around the park and helping out with juniors, but it’ll be a long time before I take any interest or spend any money in Super Rugby – until the ARU and rugby in Australia can show they’re working together rather then trying to claim ownership of the game I’ll be focusing elsewhere. However, there may be a better chance of hell freezing over then that!

Also, to try and defend any of this management is ludicrous. They were all around when the new format was put in place, even when the majority of information at hand was telling SANZAR the new format would be a failure. And now look what’s happened, this is all on them.

Totally agree, if WA isn’t good enough for a rugby team we certainly don’t need the Wallabies who will exist to represent the Eastern States only. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if the Western Force go I will not spend another $ on supporting any rugby that contributes to the ARU. I hope that all other West Australians follow suit to repay the ARU for the contempt they have shown Western Australia.

I don’t think it is over but with this iteration But the ARU was hoping rather than planning a success.

It’s not enough to have an ex banker who enjoys rugby and has a lot of mates in the game.and who’s admin skills are average at best. running the game. The only way that works is with a top coach and Cheika has done his best but we all know he is not the most ordered person in rugby.

The ARU has swallowed the ‘lack of quality players’mantra as they have no idea how to run an organisation with this many constantly moving parts, players and coaches leaving, no idea what is necessary to develop coahes and players.

Mate, the only simple part is the ARU thinking and total lack of vision for the growth of rugby in this country. I’m a Reds fan but was so impressed with the way the Force played towards the end of the year they lifted our whole competition. 5 in the Wallaby squad. Forget “advertising money” the game belongs to the people!!

Yeah…. I don’t think the person understands the need to grow the player base (talent pool). From what I understand Rugby is shrinking in it’s traditional eastern states heart lands, losing ground to soccer and Aussie Rules. There won’t be much cream from a small crop, which translates to losses on the pitch, dwindling crowd support, and falling revenue.

Rugby won’t die in WA, it has always had a strong grassroots competition… but there will be a lot of hatred towards the Sydney-centric ARU, and the Wallabies will lose crowd support in WA (except for the Bledisloe in 2019 if it is still going ahead…. but people will be there to watch the ABs not the WBs).

RugbyWA have neglected club rugby here, up until the threat to remove the Force became reality we never saw or heard from RugbyWA. Now when it suited them & they needed a public campaign from grassroots they suddenly focused on grassroots. Even then it amounted to two Force players attending one junior boys training all season. It was a sham, more smoke & mirrors to con the grassroots supporters that actually fund their existence. RugbyWA have been a parochial incompetent self interested closed shop, they also must shoulder their part in this sorry mess.

True, entry into another competition would ease the pain. But who is going to pay for that? No one on their right mind.
Thing is, when the sun goes down there is always a new dawn to look forward to. Those in the west who really care should focus on that.

Yes Geoff. This decision would not be so catastrophic if the WA fans could now look to a vibrant 3rd tier comp as a venue to vent their revenge.
The NRC is not that atm, but may have been if JON had not pulled the rug from the ARC.

I wonder if there would have been the same outrage had the Brumbies been expediently dealt with in this respect?
Given that the majority of support for the Force (and the Rebels for that matter) is derived from expat Kiwis, can they be included in the NZ NPC?

Not true for the Rebels – you only meet them in numbers when a Kiwi team is playing (and then only for that team). If all the Kiwi fans in Melbourne did turn up for the Rebels the stadium would be full.

Expats of many flavours, not just Kiwis. Plenty of S Africans, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, English.
It would be pretty cool if we could participate in the Japanese league until the current SANZAAR deal expires, and then get brought back into the fold for the new competition.

…….Ice Hockey survives on the back of expat Canuks, Czechs, Finns etc.
It is great that the code exist at all, as an expression of cultural diversity, however as with Union, Ice Hockey is not a code that resonates with the sporting DNA of mainstream Australia and quite frankly, it never has………

Exactly.I have been a Force member for 11 years and rarely missed a game.The only time I see Kiwis at the game apart from a few exceptions is when their team were playing the Force whereas expat South Africans apart from supporting their own team from SA and I know quite a few support the Force, are members and wear the blue.Their support is strong as well of course as Crazy Horse says expat Welsh,English,Scottish and Irish.

Was also a cheap attempt by ARU to use as justification the need to “support the Wallaroos” given the WRWC is on currently and they probably thought, yes let’s blame the Force for the lack of funding in the women’s game.

I was going to buy a day pass to watch it on sky in the Uk, not now. I’ll just see the result afterwards. Crowds are already bad enough, this will really be the nail in the coffin. If they persist with the NSW dominance, rugby will be dead very soon in oz

Average crowd for an All Blacks test at Homebush since its reconfiguration after 2001 is 76200. Three of the past four matches there have been under 70,000, with last year’s crowd of 65328 the lowest crowd for a Bledisloe at Homebush.

Geoff, I have an awful feeling that when 2020 comes we will find the South Africans no longer have a desire to be a part of Super Rugby and are going to head to the Northern Hemisphere.

At that point the ARU are going to have to try and revive the Western Force after Rugby League, soccer and AFL have made huge inroads, and I can only imagine the apocalyptic reaction from the Force fans after being cut only to be revived.

A lot of water needs to go under the bridge before then … the obvious hurdle first up is that basically means SA needs to turn its whole structure and season’s upside down … flip it over and you could just as easily see the SR rejig working on and off the field – and providing revenue growth and looking at getting in on a global season to hook up with NH teams in a champion league type arrangement ….

but even so if that does happen a TT / pacific, Asia comp still puts WF on to fringe particularly around travel – I can’t see them coming back – there hope is the growth of the NRC

Wa is afl country, always will be. After 11 years in perth it strikes me how many people have never heard of the force or what rugby is. The few games i did go to , were made up of the expat kiwis going down to watch their team from nz play. I always thought, “how come they don’t advertise the force games on billboards or anywhere prominent”? We never knew or heard who the force were playing week in week out. I will also say that alot of kiwi families are leaving perth for greener pastures,due to the construction work declining. Taking alot of rugby bred kids with them, which has been very noticeable in the last 2 years. Rugby in wa was struggling from the start and is in a better state, but still not strong enough to survive im afraid.

…..Vic is AFL country and so too is the ACT which would be evidenced if they had their own stand alone side in the AFL.
More to the point Unions footprint is small in Oz and shrinking as we speak.
I believe there should be two entities if Super plastic ra ra is to continue, Qld and NSW. This is the brutal reality in respect of the status of the code here……….

……….no we are not however, despite abject neglect by the governing body of the ACT Aust Footy community,
Manuka fixtures for GWS, who are not a Canberra entity, sell out.
Is this an inconvenient truth you prefer to deny………

ACT has always supported AFL, Union and League in substantial numbers, AFL maybe just had but no way much more than half. Probably more union than elsewhere given that it has the most middle class place in Australia.

A few games,well you know nothing,Kiwis are very parochial when it comes to rugby and only support their own teams unlike expat South Africans a lot who are Force members so they won’t be missed.Rugby was growing here enormously since the inception of the Force.Of course if it had been a level playing field on who got money from the ARU instead of most of it going to Queensland and NSW we would have done as good if not better than them and therefore filled more seats.In fact as you well know we did this year only finish second on points difference as we won 6 games same as Brumbies.Now tell me how The Force beat the Waratahs with their team full of overpaid talent.